Mr. Handy.

I took a deep breath readying myself…. I had sufficient stamina and I regained 7 Hp on the way back, so I was sitting at 511 Hp…. It should be more than enough.

Turning to Marcus I spoke to him using the Mind Link…

'I'm ready. Are you prepared?….'

He nodded to me with a serious expression on his face. Even as a ghoul, with the way he carried himself most could tell he was a soldier at some point… When getting ready for battle he had a strange unapproachable aura around him, nothing supernatural just, He just looked tough and ready for a fight.

'Then, let's go!'

Taking another deep breath, I jumped around the corner while activating my sprint skill…

'Sprint'

Feeling lighter I dashed forward towards the bots who immediately noticed me.

[This shop is protected by General atomics international. Stand clear Vagabonds!]

I ignored the Mr. Handy's warning and shot upwards onto the first Utility Protectron. Immediately, they started to engage. The utility bots were firing their nails at me but the damage was negligent. While the Mr. Handy was quickly hovering towards me.

I activated Pierce and stabbed my arm into the bots metal frame. It must have gotten lucky because it was still powered.

[All violators will be eliminated.]

"Don't you trash cans ever say anything else?"

The Protectron didn't respond, it only raised its arms to attack.

The blow landed on the back of my head pushing me down slightly. No pain was felt and I again activated the Pierce skill.

Stabbing at the insides, I could feel the wiring being torn apart as electricity flowed through my body.

The Protectron lost its juice and slumped down to the ground.

'That's one dow-'

[Nonpersonnel detected. All trespassers will be terminated. Die swine!]

Mr Handy reached me almost immediately after I destroyed the first Protectron. It aggressively pointed a tube at me and I felt an intense heat wash over my body….

The flamethrower… It was using the fukking flamethrower to bathe me in heat…

'Ugh, dammit!'

Obviously I knew it would be hot. But the pain still momentarily distracted me.

The heat was so intense and painful It felt like I was in an oven. Just barely, I was just barely able to stop myself from falling to the ground and withering in agony. But I forced myself to stay up. I had to be strong… If I'm not, then eventually the wasteland will just chew me up and spit me back out.

I fought through the pain. glaring at the bot, I jumped forward grabbing hold of the arm holding the flamer.

[Unhand me heathen!]

A humming sound was heard on my right side and a chainsaw was swiftly brought down onto my shoulder….

*Shhhhhssfiiisih*

My hide held up for a second but against the rapidly moving blades it tore. The metal dug deep into my arm and blood sprayed.

"Gyyaaaahhhhhh!!!"

A terrible squeal broke through my lips as I felt my shoulder being mutilated.

Pain!

I grip the Mister Handy's limb tighter and activate my Tear skill.

[Tear]

*Scr-RIP!!*

Mechanical bolts were flung everywhere as the Machine gyrated around retracting the saw from my shoulder.

[You Barbarian! You've damaged my new coating! I only just received that paint job 7094 days ago! I'll make sure to repaint myself red!]

*Tingtintintintin*

Sparks flew off the Mr. Handy's head…. Marcus was opening fire on the machine but he was promptly ignored… His weapons were weak and he also had the aggro of the other Protectron so he couldn't afford to shoot only one of them… In fact, it was already risky shooting the Mr. Handy.

"Argh."

Marcus flinched back as his chest was punctured by 2 nails. Quickly he moved back behind cover.

The flying bot looked towards Setherrog in hate…

'I'm not sure if robots can get angry but he definitely looked it…. Sounds it too….

Clutching the deep wound on my shoulders I glared at the Handy bot with just as much intensity.

'The pain was numbing.'

[Die intruder!]

The Mister Handy charged at me. Raising both arms into the air… Both were equipped with chainsaws.

Reacting fast I tried dodging to the best of my ability…. Dodging the first was easy, The second…. Not so much. A long line of red appeared as blood splashed out of my chest. It was a slashing strike so it managed to slice through my hide even easier than before. But it wasn't as deep as the other cut.

After the hit landed the following momentum carried the Mr. Handy forward, I took that chance and activated my Sprint Skill again.

Experiencing the same light feeling as before, I quickly bounced around the Bot in order to flank it from the side. Since my agility was raised, I had to be careful or I'd lose balance while doing more complex movements like swiveling around.

I kept my balance and found myself in Mr. Handy's blindspot. Well, not blindspot, rather it's unarmed side.

I didn't waste any time, rushing forward and grabbing another one of the machine's appendages. I activated my skill again.

'Tear!'

*Scrrrrr-RIP!!*

The same scene from earlier repeated itself.

I looked at the now limp piece of metal in my hand before throwing the garbage behind me.

[How dare you!? How am I supposed to maintain things if my arms keep getting ripped off!? I will justly exterminate you!]

*Tingting.*

By this point, Marcus finally finished off the other Protectron and began opening fire on the robot. Unfortunately, he used up the rest of his assault rifle ammo and could only use his Pistol…. He still had his shotgun but as I said earlier, getting too close would be very dangerous, especially when it's waving around a chainsaw.

"Hurry it up and finish things! I don't have the luxury of wasting this ammo."

"Right."

The battle was pretty much over… The Mister Handy only had one Chainsaw left and even if it hit me a few more times I wouldn't die.

The machine approached… I could tell it was an all or nothing charge. It would either kill me and come out victorious or be defeated.

[Die Hooligan! Onguard!]

Suddenly its speed picked up and in a second it was right in front of me. Swinging it's mounted saw at me like lightning…

I was already prepared for it though. I stepped back and the blades passed right in front of my face. Almost making contact with one of my horns. I was ready to dash to the side again like last time but the Jet thruster on the bottom of the Mr. Handy tilted to the side and erupted in power like a terrible volcano, Fire practically exploded out and the robot floating in the air flipped so quickly it turned into a blur.

'Oh $hit!'

I bent back slightly, and as I felt my neck about to come into contact with the blade, instinct took over and I subconsciously activated my Jump Skill. I couldn't even register what happened…. then I appeared several feet in the air…. I felt something pass just below me.

*Scrrrpsss*

A loud crashing noise sounded out and I fell to the ground landing on my feet. Once again I prepared to dodge the weapon that may have heavily injured me if it landed just now...

My eyes widened when they landed on the enemy and everything stopped.

A few moments passed in awkward silence before there was a yell.

[I surrender!]

On the ground, a spherical metal ball with three eyes was intently staring right at me.

'What… Just… Happened?'

"Hah?"

"S-Surrender?"

[Correct!]

"Can you even do that?"

[...]

"I'm going to just go ahead and destroy you now"

As I started taking steps forward the Small ball repositioned itself before using its Thruster to start flying again.

Thinking that it may try fighting or even try escaping I prepared myself…. Fortunately, it didn't do either of those things.

[A minute mister robber!]

I stared suspiciously at the Mr. Handy in front of me….

"What? Why would I ever let you live?"

I glanced over to the torn-off arm that was halfway embedded into the concrete. It must have been ripped off when it collided with the ground.

'That last attack was unexpected… As well as being very dangerous… It wasn't something seen in the game and it looked very powerful… If I failed to dodge at the last moment I would have been in some serious trouble… Even if I had higher stats, with my Strong Hide being at such a low level… I'm still pretty fragile… Still though. I wouldn't have died…. Decapitation just wasn't possible… 

I doubt that any amount of Hp could have saved a normal person from something like that…. But Since I acquired 'that' trait. It's different for me….

[Because… If you don't I will self-destruct and we will all die. So I suggest you just accept my surrender.]

I felt my eyes narrow at the claim.

'Self-destruct? Can they even do something like that? I don't remember that being in any of the games….. Could I have forgotten? Or is it different in reality? But still it doesn't matter.'

"I will survive….."

[I assure you, You will not.]

"I assure you, I will."

Just a week ago, I received a trait that allowed me to survive any noncontinuous damage attacks that would have normally killed me, Instead, leaving me with 1Hp. Its name was Grave Runner…

The Mr. Handy and I stared into each other's eyes for a few moments…

[I believe you…. But what about your companion? Will he survive as well?]

'That's….. Damnit.'

I'm not sure just how different the explosions may be from the game. How much Area of effect would a normal mini-nuclear explosion even have? Would it really be contained into just a couple meters like in the game? What the Mr. Handy said, implies that it wouldn't… As far as I'm aware the entire building may be consumed in the blast.

"Alright… But don't think I'm just leaving…. Marcus!? Come out. The battle is over."

The bloodied Ghoul emerged from around the corner. Immediately his eyes landed on the bot…. He didn't say anything and approached cautiously…

"I heard everything…. We should just leave him and keep moving forward."

"Yeah… I see you already used another Stimpak… You should still have one left right?"

My body was covered in wounds…. I was burned and cut in several different locations…. Pulling up my interface I saw that my Hp was down to 290… I started with 511 so I took quite a bit of damage. 221 to be exact… With my low Strong Hide Skill that last attack really may have brought me down to 1 Hp…. I wasn't expecting the fight to be so difficult…. Though the enemy was level 45….

"Yeah… You definitely need it. Here."

Marcus reached through his satchel and pulled out the Stimpak I found earlier. Grabbing it I didn't hesitate and stabbed it into my arm injecting the miracle liquid into my veins.

Instantly, I felt the effects. My body, especially my wounds, became very itchy. I watched as they quickly closed up…

This was my first time experiencing it… I gained 180 health points with a single one bringing me up to 470 Hp.

"The old employees must be somewhere ahead, if they have the keys we can unlock the sealed doors. And then get out of here…"

[You must not hurt the precious employees! It is my duty to not only help them But ensure they're safe!"]

We both stared weirdly at the Mr. Handy.

"You do know their minds have long since rotted away right?"

[Preposterous! They've just caught a cold is all…. Give it some time and it will pass….]

He clearly couldn't understand what was going on but I tried persuading him anyway.

"Look, I'm not sure if a robot can comprehend something like this… But those people have already died a long time ago… Their minds are long gone.

[That can't be right. they-]

"When was the last time they spoke to you?"

[Hmm? Well, My records say that it's been just over 20 years.]

"And that doesn't seem strange to you? At all?"

[Well, Yes, it does seem strange… Ah, They must be playing a very intense game of Mum.]

Marcus seemed to have had enough and spoke up

"Stop lying to yourself….. They're already dead. Letting them just stand in place forever is no different than turning them into meat statues. Leaving them alive like that isn't right…"

[...]

The Robot went quiet… Just staring at us for a while

[You…. May be right…. But nonetheless…. It is my duty to help them.]

"...."

Such…. Thoughts. I even sense a bit of emotion. It's a bit strange… Not impossible though…. Curie from Fallout 4 was similar.

"Believe me…. They are not alive anymore….. You are not helping them by stopping us."

I received no reply.

"But."

"We can help them by putting them to rest."

[But what of my Duty? There will be no one left to help.]

"This is…"

'What is this?'

I felt my eyes narrow in suspicion.

'What's with this game like dialogue? The way he's talking, it's like…. It's almost like he's trying to get me to say… 'Well just follow me and you can be my companion.'

'That's definitely what it feels like right now…. A bit annoying but would something that generic actually work?'

"Sigh."

"Well then, why don't you just follow me?..... And then you can be my companion."

End of chapter.